


We Will Not Grow Old

by monetfun



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU Fairytale Land, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 04:23:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2335178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monetfun/pseuds/monetfun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma and Regina grow up as princesses in neighboring kingdoms. Their lifelong friendship starts when they are little girls and turns into possibly more as they as grow older. Their happiness and future is threatened by the choices and past dealings of Queen Cora with the Dark One. Will Regina and Emma be able to fight the outside forces trying to foil their love?</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Will Not Grow Old

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize that this is not completely finished. Real life really kicked me in the butt the last couple months. I was excited to write this fic inspired by reginamea's the beautiful artwork and amazing fanmix I was given for this challenge.

Cora Mills has always had big plans. As the daughter of a miller there was very little opportunity for upward mobility but Cora was not one to let her parentage and station in life stand in the way of her plans.  

Cora took every opportunity that came her way to move up and gain more power. When her father was too drunk to deliver the flour to the castle, she took it up there herself. When that idiot little girl Snow White, from the Northern Kingdom, accidentally tripped her causing her to spill flour everywhere, Cora seized on the small bit of kindness the Prince tried to give her in the face of his father’s anger.

Cora saw a weakness and a way to to exploit the Prince’s kindness. She dressed up in a beautiful if not a bit worn, red satin dress that she pilfered from one of her wealthier neighbors and snuck into the ball the King was having to find his son a wife. She immediately found the Prince and went about wooing him. She would have been successful but the King recognized her from the incident earlier and told her if she left quietly he would not cancel the palace’s contract with her father’s mill.

Cora taunted the King to cover her wounded pride, telling him that he was missing out on a great opportunity since she could spin straw into gold. What she did not count on was the King calling her bluff and asking for a demonstration of her great talent. She told him that it took time spin straw into gold. The King told her that she would have all night and tower room full of straw to spin into gold. If she was successful in turning the straw into gold then would be able to marry the Prince.

After being locked in the tower room, Cora was desperate for a way to escape since she knew that there was no way to turn the all of this straw into gold. She was contemplating jumping out the window to her death when she heard someone giggle and a strange a voice.

“You won’t be able to get out that way, dearie.”

“Who are you?” asked Cora.

“No, who are you?” asked the gold skinned impish man.

“Cora,” she answered through gritted teeth.

“Not a very pretty name. Sounds like something breaking,” he taunted.

“How did you get in here?” asked Cora striding towards the impish man standing the in the middle of the room. “If you can get in than I can get out.”

“If I understand your situation correctly, this is your wait out,” said the man pointing the spinning wheel. “And what a marvelous coincidence that spinning straw into gold just so happens to be something that I like to do. It’s almost like fate.”

“No one can spin straw into anything and no can make…” said Cora stopping once she saw that the man had in fact spun straw into a thin gold chain.

“Well would you look at that.”

Cora reached out to touch the chain of gold. “You want to help me?”

“I want you to help me, and you will,” he replied. “Because the future is my gift. Well in a manner of speaking.”

“What could you possibly get from me?” asked Cora.

“Funny you should ask. Can you read?” asked the man as he procured a contract on a long scroll seemingly out of nowhere.

Cora took the contract from the imp and began to read the terms. “My first born child?”

“She is quite important.”

“She?”

“Yes I see the future. Weren’t you listening. Anyway I only get my payment if you live past tomorrow.”

“You can turn all of this straw into gold by morning?” ask Cora doubt lacing her tone.

“You can parade yourself in front of the whores and demand the hand of the dimwitted prince and have them kneel before you. That’s what you want, you want them to kneel…”

“No, teach me. Don’t just do it teach me how spin all this straw into gold. Make it part of our deal.”

The imp giggled, “You are a spicy one aren’t you? Ah well, Rumplestiltskin,” he said with a flourish of his hands.

“What?”

“My name, I do believe you just earned it,” said Rumplestiltskin waving his hand over the contract to include the new terms of the deal and handing her a pen. “Now let’s begin.”

Cora demonstrated how she spun straw into gold in front of the King and the whole court.

“Here you go,” said Cora bringing over a strand of the gold to the King.

“Did you really do this?” he asked incredulously running the gold through his fingers.

“You saw it with your own eyes.”

“But you are just a miller’s daughter.”

“Oh I am so much more than that,” replied Cora venom lacing every word.

“You have earned him,” said the King motioning towards his son.

The prince went down one knee, took Cora’s hand and asked her to marry him. Cora replied that she would marry the prince while Rumplestiltskin looked on at this whole scene.


End file.
